After buying ZeniMax Media three years ago, Microsoft is now cutting back a lot.
Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, and Alpha Dog Studios are the three ZeniMax teams that have seen their operations terminated by Microsoft. Additionally, Roundhouse Games is being incorporated into Zenimax Online Studios by the corporation. Tango is the company that is responsible for The Evil Within, Ghostwire Tokyo, and Hi-Fi Rush, whereas Arkane Austin is the company that is responsible for Prey and Redfall. The video game Mighty Doom was developed by Alpha Dog, and Roundhouse served as a support studio for products developed by ZeniMax.
In an email sent to employees, Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty provided an overview of the disruption, indicating that certain personnel will be transferred to other teams that fall under ZeniMax’s authority. For the most part, however, employees will be terminated. Booty has provided the following breakdown of the layoffs for each studio that was affected:
The Arkane Austin studio is going to close, and some of the team members will be moving on to other studios to work on projects that are being developed within Bethesda. Arkane Austin has a long history of producing games that are both influential and inventive, and this type of pedigree is something that everyone ought to be proud of. Because we have decided to stop all development on Redfall, the most recent update will be the game’s final one. We are going to provide make-good offers to players who have purchased the Hero downloadable content, and the game and its servers will continue to be accessible online for gamers to enjoy.
Alpha Dog Studios is another studio that will be closing its doors. The inventiveness of the developers in introducing Doom to new players is something that we like. On August 7, Mighty Doom will reach its sunset, and at that time, we will disable the ability for users to make any purchases within the game.
Another company that will be closing its doors is Tango Gameworks. Our gratitude extends to them for the contributions they have made to Bethesda and to players all over the world. Hello,Players will be able to continue to access Fi Rush on the same platforms that it is now available on.
A team from Roundhouse Games will be joining ZeniMax Online Studios (ZOS), according to the announcement made by the company. By bringing Roundhouse into ZOS to work on The Elder Scrolls Online, we will be able to do even more to expand the world that millions of players call home. Roundhouse has been instrumental in several of our recent game launches, and we are excited to have them join us.
By the same token, “a small number of roles across select Bethesda publishing and corporate teams will also be eliminated,” as stated in Booty’s email notification.
In conclusion, at least with regard to the games: the development of Redfall has been totally halted, and individuals who have purchased the Bite Back edition of the game and have paid a total of one hundred dollars for it will be eligible for a partial refund to compensate for the downloadable content that they have not received. You may register for the refund right here on this page. It will still be possible to play Hi-Fi Rush. On August 7, Mighty Doom will be rendered inoperable.
Arkane Lyon, Bethesda Game firms, id Software, MachineGames, ZeniMax Online Studios, and the Bethesda publishing and corporate teams are the names of the remaining firms that fall under the umbrella of ZeniMax Media, which is owned by Microsoft. At the moment, Arkane Lyon is in the process of constructing Marvel’s Blade, which will serve as the location for both Deathloop and the Dishonored trilogy.
Dinga Bakaba, who is the co-creative director of Arkane Lyon, expressed his emotional response to the layoffs that occurred on X through the following thread:
Something like this is utterly bad. Permission to be human: I would like to use this opportunity to remind any CEO who is reading this that the video game industry is a cultural and entertainment sector, and that your responsibility as a corporation is to take care of your artists and entertainers and to assist them in creating opportunities for you.
We should not be subjected to gold fever gambits, we should not be used as strawmen for miscalculations or blind spots, and our working surroundings should not be made into darwinist jungles. In the event that we play a good game, you say that we make you proud. When things are difficult, make us proud of you. Because we have witnessed it previously, we are confident that you are able to.
For the time being, great teams are once again disintegrating in front of our very eyes, and it is a fucking gut stab. Lyon is safe, but there is a need for sensitivity and discernment regarding all of this. It is important to respect the voices of those who have been affected and to give them the opportunity to be heard. It is their narrative to tell and their feelings to express.
A total of $7.5 billion was paid by Microsoft in 2021 for the acquisition of ZeniMax Media, which included Bethesda, id Software, Arkane, and Tango. It was a significant step forward in Microsoft’s efforts to consume the whole industry, as the acquisition marked: In 2018, the business purchased five teams of a medium size, including Compulsion Games and Ninja Theory. By February 2019, there were thirteen studios operating under the Xbox Game Studios banner. The acquisition of ZeniMax was approved by the relevant authorities in 2021, which paved the way for Microsoft to acquire Activision Blizzard, which is among the most successful video game developers in the world. At an estimated cost of over $69 billion, the acquisition of Activision Blizzard was the most costly in the history of Microsoft corporation. The transaction was finally approved in February of 2023, following nearly two years of negotiations with the relevant regulatory bodies.
It is not just Microsoft that is contributing to the shrinking of the video gaming industry. As a result of a spate of post-pandemic corporate consolidation, companies such as Sony, Take-Two Interactive, Tencent, Epic Games, and publishers of all sizes have been snatching up talent. This has resulted in a deluge of mass layoffs inside the industry. For the year 2023, it is anticipated that 10,500 workers in the video game industry lost their jobs, which broke prior records for yearly layoffs. A total of approximately 9,400 video game employees had been laid off in 2024 prior to the studio closures that took place today, establishing a rate that is expected to surpass the figures from the previous year.